![\"Holes](\"http:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/381.jpg\")
<\/a>Holes in the roof at 820 W. Main<\/p><\/div>\n
The next property was the peach and cherry orchard on Weaver Road outside of Austin. While the house had some nice features, like the kitchen and entry, the place was very “chopped up” with a very strange floor plan (due to making the main house\u00a0into two rental units). Excellent views of the San Juan and West Elk Mountains though, but no garage or outbuildings. \u00a0With some reluctance we decided the orchard could\u00a0be eliminated from consideration.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Entry and kitchen of orchard house<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Overlooking Austin with West Elk Mountains in background.<\/p><\/div>\n
Next on the list\u00a0was\u00a0the Marshall’s Road property. We had high hopes for this one but ran into a couple of major issues. We knew, from the listing photos, that the walk-through galley kitchen was not what Pam\u00a0wanted and would require a major renovation to modernize it.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Marshall’s Road kitchen<\/p><\/div>\n
The kitchen space could be expanded into a bedroom that shares the right-hand wall. This would leave two small bedrooms and one bath on the main floor, but the cost of a kitchen renovation is generally quite high. Plus, in a house built in 1909, what would be behind wall #1? Touching the electrical during such a renovation would likely require bringing the entire house up to code, which would mean losing the antique ceiling fixtures in the living and dining rooms. \u00a0Bummer, there goes the charm.<\/p>\n
Then we descended down a steep and dark stairwell with minimal hand rails\u00a0into the cellar, where we fund a truly antique furnace. Coal-fired with an automatic stoker, this thing is a monster.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Coal-fired furnace with stoker<\/p><\/div>\n
I\u00a0estimate it would be about a $5,000.00 job to replace this unit with a modern gas furnace. Again, by itself not a deal breaker, but over-all the cost (and labor required) to bring this place up to our standards would be quite high. And not just in major projects\u2026the windows are the old style sliders that use a weight-and-pulley system; some of the windows had broken cords and the windows did not work properly. While not difficult to repair, it does mean every window would need attention. \u00a0 \u00a0The costs would add up since we would not have the time (and knowledge, in some cases) to do the work ourselves and would have to hire contractors.<\/p>\n
And not just inside work\u2026the 3+ acre lot also needs attention. For example, this old cement block building would have to go. So would the tree house behind it.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Old building would have to go<\/p><\/div>\n
Still, the yard and views are very attractive – the front lawn is almost like a park.<\/p>\n
<\/a>West Elk view\u00a0from driveway<\/p><\/div>\n
And many rooms in\u00a0the house were\u00a0appealing, such as the dining\u00a0area.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dining room features antique light fixture<\/p><\/div>\n
While not eliminated from consideration, this place would not be at the top of our ‘pick list’ unless the price dropped significantly. There are many high-priced renovation projects involved in moving forward.<\/p>\n
The last property, on Tulip Circle in Montrose, was nicer inside than the listing photos indicated. Because of the price and the way the property is marketed (it’s a foreclosure, over $300,000 asking price, being sold at\u00a0auction through a 3rd party) we did not initially consider it a real possibility. I didn’t take photos so will use a couple of the listing photos.<\/p>\n
First, the way this property is being sold is\u2026 ah\u2026.unique to us. The listing company, Hubzu.com, takes on-line bids and submits them to the property owner, in this case I am\u00a0guessing a bank. The bank can accept or reject all bids. If all bids are rejected,\u00a0the bid process\u00a0is\u00a0re-opened for another round of bids. (So far this property has been through 3 bid cycles.) The kicker is that Hubzu collects an additional 4.5% of the winning bid price as a closing cost (essentially, this covers the Seller’s usual Broker\/Realtor fee payment plus some profit for Hubzu). The percentage\u00a0adds many thousands of dollars to the price of the property\u00a0—\u00a0$11,250.00 on a winning bid of $250,000.00 for example. Closing costs might, or might not, be financed as part of a loan on the property. If not, this means the Buyer has to have a lot more cash up front, a problem for us as it would be in addition to the 20% down payment. We are going to get more information on this process and see if it is a viable avenue for us to pursue, either for this house or some future one.<\/p>\n
The house itself is about ten years old and\u00a0quite contemporary, with upgrades to bathrooms and kitchen. It does feature two bedrooms on the main floor, each with an attached bath, along with a laundry area and a main floor bonus room (probably office). Upstairs are a couple more bedrooms with a shared bath.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Kitchen in Tulip Circle home<\/p><\/div>\n